Things Aren't Always Black and White
by JacquelineKunoichi
Summary: Itachi Uchiha had lived his life suffering for the burden placed upon his shoulders. Can this new kunoichi member of Akatsuki help him forgive himself and find love? Follow Kyra Yuki in her shinobi adventures. ItachixOC. Rated M just to be safe. RnR.
1. Encounter

The young kunoichi awoke from her slumber and gazed up at the ceiling above her contently. If she was correct, today was December 8th, which meant it was the day she turned 18. It wasn't a special birthday, but one she thought was worth celebrating at least. Last night after a long day of travel, she had rented herself a costly suite at the inn in the small town between villages and made up for several nights sleep.

She gracefully popped out of bed and headed for the shower, a spring in her step. She stopped before getting in and glanced at her reflection. Her long onyx hair hung straight around her face. Her soft hazel eyes relayed a warm look. She glanced at herself dully. Not that it was really important to her, but she found there was nothing particularly attractive about her. She found her face plain, boring, and as for her body, she never really found anything extremely 'sexy' about it. It was only then that she noticed the smudge of dirt across her cheek, and she chuckled to herself as she wiped it off.

After her warm, relaxing shower she headed down stairs with all her belongings ready to set out for the day. "Ahh, you must have slept well, its nearly noon!" She turned toward the inn keeper with a warm and friendly smile.

"You're correct about that." She replied sweetly.

"You really ought to take better care of yourself, you looked half dead last night! I'll tell you right now that youth doesn't last forever, ninja or not. What's your name anyways? If you don't mind me asking," the short elderly woman asked the young kunoichi kindly.

"Kyra Yuki, of the Yuki clan."

"I see, well take care of yourself." The young girl, Kyra, waved and smiled kindly towards the elderly woman as she left the inn. It wasn't that the young kunoichi was antisocial or didn't like the company of the old inn keeper, she was certainly warm and kind towards most but not necessarily that talkative. She always made it a habit to try to keep the people around her smiling.

Kyra pulled up her face mask gracefully before heading off towards the land of waves at a lightning speed. Speed was her talent. She had never met another shinobi who could match her speed.

She leapt from tree to tree in a light footed manner smiling the entire way. Today was the day she would return to the land of waves, fulfilling her contract and having a chance to stop at her favourite sweets shop, her treat for her birthday she decided.

She didn't necessarily like working as a mercenary, but she put her heart into it. She often refused contracts that required her to kill, as she was not fond of doing so, but from time to time she did take them. Although she didn't like to admit it, she was a shinobi, and killing was without a doubt necessary sometimes. The contract she had just fulfilled was an easy one. She was required to steal back a secret scroll from a rival clan and return it to it's original owners, a clan of extremely skilled medical ninjas.

Hiring a mercenary gave the clan the benefit of not being known as the ones to commit the crime. Kyra smiled at the thought that the easy infiltration mission had not required her to kill anyone, and she had slipped away with the scroll probably completely unnoticed.

She hadn't been travelling long before she sensed two incredible chakra sources up ahead. She came to a sudden stop and frowned. With the movement of a single hand, she skillfully formed a hand seal and summoned a water clone. The clone continued on ahead while Kyra sat upon the branch she had stalled in, head lazily resting against the tree. She awaited to see what her clone had found.

In another part of the ever green forest, two shinobi travelled quickly along the forest floor."I've never even heard of this girl, why is she of such an interest to the Akatsuki?" Kisame Hoshigaki questioned his partner casually.

"Her ice release ninjutsu is formidable, as well as her medical jutsus. She is extremely fast, and a master of the body flicker and silent killing techniques. She also has a rare summoning power." Itachi Uchiha replied to his partner nonchalantly. The Akatsuki didn't allow just anyone to join their organization, and they became well acquainted with their candidates' abilities before actually approaching them, sometimes spying on them in secret for months on end.

"Hmm? What summoning power would that be?" Kisame replied curiously.

"She has the power to summon wolves." Itachi replied. The two continued to travel through the forest at a fast speed towards the target. They both stop suddenly when she appeared before them.

Kisame chuckled. "Well that was certainly easy, we didn't even have to chase her down." He pulled his sword Samehada off his back and pointed it towards the kunoichi menacingly. "We've been looking for you, Kyra Yuki." The young kunoichi narrowed her eyes towards the blue shinobi. "We've come to relay a message." He waited for a reply, but her prying gaze towards him indicated that he wasn't going to get one. He grinned and continued anyways. "You've been invited to join the ranks of the Akatsuki. If you refuse, you will die." He snickered at the end of his invitation.

Kyra studied the two before her. One had pale blue skin and apparent gills on his face, while the other one, although young looked mature beyond his years. He had dark eyes and black hair like her own, and a devilishly handsome smirk upon his lips. They both wore long black flowing cloaks decorated with crimson clouds, and both of their head bands displayed a scratch through the centre of their village symbols, indicating they were rogues. They also wore nail polish, which she found odd and each wore a ring. She studied the ring more closely realizing she had stolen a similar one from her past tutor many months ago. Their appearance was menacing, and they definitely gave off a dangerous aura.

She looked back to the shinobi and chimed,"what is it that the Akatsuki can offer me?" There was no immediate response. "I'm a missing ninja constantly being hunted by the ANBU, I have more than enough money to support myself, and I believe I'm plenty powerful enough to take care of myself." Kyra replied sternly. She was testing their patience. However, the offer did interest her. In order to reach her goals, she needed to test herself. Fight and learn under someone with powers superior to her own, test her limits, and become the strongest shinobi she could be.

"The Akatsuki are going to change the world." And with that, the shark like shinobi launched towards Kyra at a blinding speed, sword ready to strike. Kyra smiled and leaped back gracefully, admiring her opponents speed. He may have been fast, but nowhere near as fast as Kyra. She twisted and twirled almost as if she were dancing through the air as she dodged the ninja's powerful blows. She smirked at her opponent who was now becoming slightly agitated.

Kisame stopped and formed several hand signs at an alarming rate. Kyra watched in fright as Kisame summoned an enormous wave that over shadowed her, and crashed upon her clone making her vanish. Kisame chuckled and then looked around in confusion staring at the water, searching for the young kunoichi. Surely she couldn't be defeated so easily.

In her original body, Kyra smirked. These shinobi appeared quite powerful, and the thought excited her. She had heard a lot of rumours about the group, and had gathered a lot of Intel about the organization while working for certain people. If she assumed correct, the Akatsuki were a formidable organization she had heard whisperings about across the various countries she had travelled between. If they were truly as powerful as they were said to be, there was definitely value in showing an interest in their group. She knew she was strong, but the fact remained that there was still always going to be somebody stronger than her somewhere.

However, they were still criminals, wanted by many countries and hidden villages. The Akatsuki's goals were unknown to her. She frowned at the thought, and considered running for a moment, but the thought that there was someone there that could help her become stronger stopped her from doing so. Even if nobody was willing to train with her, there was the indefinite fact that such powerful shinobi would be executing missions that would push her to her limits, inevitably helping her grow. That fact, was too irresistible to her. Kyra needed to become stronger. She smiled and got to her feet and bounded off in the direction of her water clone, truly determined to test the skills these shinobi had herself. She took a deep breathe and mentally prepared herself for the oncoming battle.

"A clone?" Kisame questioned his partner on the sidelines with a frown. Itachi Uchiha only nodded, glancing around the landscape with his sharingan activated. With a flicker, the kunoichi suddenly appeared across the now soggy clearing, standing expressionless in a tree branch.

She studied her opponents. Her face showed no expression, something she had trained herself to do at a very young age. She glanced towards the shark like ninja. "Your water jutsu and chakra levels are impressive," she complimented her opponent, cocking her head to the side innocently. "But I doubt that they're much of a challenge for my kekkei genkai." She leaped into action without hesitation. With one hand Kyra gracefully made a hand sign. "Secret technique: thousand flying water needles of death." As the words escaped her soft pale lips, thousands of icy spears appeared above Kisame in all directions, ready to strike. He smiled, and as the spikes made contact with his body it melted away into the water. Another water clone. As expected of such shinobi, Kyra thought.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as she gasped quietly, jerking her head around to see Kisame about to swing his large bandaged sword through her gut. She flipped off the tree branch she had been sitting on and soared gracefully through the air, landing a few feet away on the ground silently.

"You were right about her being fast, Itachi." Kisame glanced back to his partner with a grin on his face. "Samehada is getting excited." There was no reply as Itachi continued to glance at the kunoichi casually. Kyra took in the information, and stood ready for his next attack. Kisame rushed forward again, Samehada in hand, and Kyra back flipped out of the way. The way she moved was completely silent, her feet touched the ground without a sound and even her small quiet breathes could not be heard as she moved around the field effortlessly.

The two fought each other for the next twenty minutes, Kisame unable to score a blow to the kunoichi, and Kyra scoring a few minor hits along the way. The frustration in Kisame's eyes was becoming apparent to her and she smirked. Evasion and speed had always been her best allies, and it wasn't often that she found herself injured too badly, or injured at all in fact.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that she glanced over at her other opponent, and mentally slapped herself. She had completely forgotten about him, and to make matters worse, she had been too preoccupied to identify the crimson eyes glaring at her.

She met his gaze for the first time and the intensity of his eyes caused her to falter in the deadly dance she had been participating in with Kisame. "The sharingan," she muttered out loud to herself.

The brief moment she had forgotten about her attacker was enough for him to take advantage of. Her head snapped back around just in time to see him swing his sword in her direction. At a last second attempt at dodging, she swiftly jumped into the air, but not before the sword could brush harshly against her thigh.

She gasped, as she landed on her feet, a few feet back and struggled to catch her breath. It had been as if all the energy she had just recovered from sleeping well over eight hours the previous night had been sapped from her body. She looked up at her opponent to see a smug look on his face. He had momentarily stopped his relentless chain of attacks.

"Feeling the effects of Samehada huh?" The blue shinobi questioned confidently. She really hated the cocky look in his small round eyes.

Kyra cursed under her breathe. She couldn't believe what had happened, the sword he was wielding had actually _sucked _the chakra right from her body. She leapt back into the cover of the brush silently and immediately replaced where she stood with another water clone, hoping she had done so quickly enough that the shark wouldn't notice the exchange.

To her luck, Kisame had fallen for it, and had began another rally of relentless attacks against her clone. The Uchiha however, had easily seen through her trick but decided not to interfere. He smirked to himself. She was extremely fast, like he had been informed. But to pull off a switch that quickly without Kisame noticing was quite a feat.

Turning her mind's attention to the now apparent Uchiha opponent, she decided to confront him cautiously with another water clone. She had fought the sharingan before, and realized that he would most likely easily see through her clone. Nonetheless, she was merely curious and only wanted to speak to him at the moment. She made the appropriate signs and stood with her back to the trunk of a large tree, waiting for her clones' encounters.

Itachi had been studying the fight between the two shinobi curiously. The young kunoichi was certainly a strong opponent, and seemed to base her entire strategy off evading the opponent and striking when the opportunity presented itself. Assuming she had the stamina to carry on fighting like that, it was quite a formidable technique. Itachi felt another chakra source approaching him and quickly used his sharingan to identify that it was a clone approaching. He stood readily, waiting for her to make the first move.

"You're Itachi Uchiha aren't you?" He frowned at the shinobi clone conversing with him. He was sure he had never met the girl before, and he certainly wasn't expecting her to recognize him. He looked into her eyes and saw many things. Intelligence, cunning, and a certain element of kindness. He found her quite intriguing. "I can tell by your sharingan. I've heard," she chose her next words carefully. "A great deal about you." Her voice was soft and quiet, almost delicate. It wasn't really a voice he would expect to hear from a strong shinobi.

"Is that so?" He replied in a husky tone, urging her to continue. She seemed slightly intimidated by his presence.

"Yes, from your younger brother." She paused and studied his face for any type of reaction, but his eyes only bore into her more, his face not revealing any emotion. "I knew him well. I'll make you a deal. If you can lay a hand on me, I'll join your Akatsuki organization." Kyra was confident in her decision.

She smirked to herself. She had seen the power of these shinobi, and had convinced herself that by travelling along side such an elite group she would be able to train herself and become much stronger, which was absolutely necessary to accomplish her goals. Still, she was wary of their intentions and decided to proceed with caution. She was sure she could escape the organization if she needed to, and would give it a chance. She touched the tiny stolen scroll in her pocket. It was unfortunate that she would not get an opportunity to return to the water country and collect her reward, and she was slightly frustrated at the fact that she would not be getting her sweets she had so been looking forward to. Sweets were definitely her weak spot.

Her clone glanced up towards the Uchiha standing in front of her, awaiting a response. Instead, the man who had once been there simply smirked before disappearing in a flurry of crows. She frowned.

"Wise decision." A voice came from behind the real Kyra. She gasped as she tried to stand, only to be constricted by the real Uchiha's arm with a kunai held to her throat. She turned her head around quickly to stare into the devillish crimson eyes of the sharingan that belonged to her captor.

**Author's note:**

**I do not own Naruto, or any related media. Please support the official release. This is the only time I will say this during the story.**

**Anyways, thank you all for reading! I really appreciate it. I'd just like to mention that I've decided to write without using honorifics, as I don't really feel they're necessary in an English story. Feedback would be appreciated, and I certainly hope you look forward to reading this story as much as I do writing it. I've been working on this story for a while and have really enjoyed planning out the plot. Expect multiple plot twists, a little bit of fun, and an amazing three part story from me. **

**I love reviews. Feed me reviews.**

**Jacqueline.**


	2. Akatsuki

The air was crisp and cool, as Kyra followed closely behind the two Akatsuki members. It was the early evening, and although it was rare for the fire country to ever get snow, Kyra still found herself chilly. The sky was pitch dark, as the over cast clouds blocked out the star light, and the eerie sound of the overhead wind could not be felt because of the brush and forestry surrounding them.

They had hardly spoken a word to her after she was surprisingly caught off guard by the Uchiha, only taking time to inform her of where they were headed and what to expect. She was told that they would meet up with two other members of the Akatsuki, Hidan and Kakazu. She nodded shyly and followed them without question, still ashamed of being so shocked by the Uchiha's attack.

They travelled at a quick walking pace, which Kyra found frustrating. She much preferred to be bounding through the forests at a quick speed, reaching her destination as fast as possible. Not only that, but she had a hard time keeping up to their large strides, and found it too awkward to jog beside them.

Sighing, she stopped momentarily to try a new approach. She swiftly pulled out one of her senbon needles (her weapon of choice,) and slicked it across her thumb drawing a small amount of blood. After a few lazy hand signs, she pressed her hand to the ground in a summoning jutsu. Her two accomplices stopped and glared at her menacingly, unsure of her intentions.

In a poof of smoke, where the summoning circle had been appeared a large menacing wolf. It's fur was a soft silvery colour, and it stood nearly five feet tall at its shoulders. Kyra Yuki gracefully swung atop it and straddled it like a horse. _"Ahh, Kyra how are you? It's been far too long." _Although the wolf's mouth never opened, its soft velvety voice could be heard by all near it.

"Akina, I've been well." Kyra beamed at the wolf standing below her, it was her favourite of them all. Akina was more than a summoning or tool to Kyra, in a strange way they had become not just comrades but good friends, and her and the she wolf had many battles and memories together.

"_I'm glad to hear Kyra." _The wolf's voice was smooth and kind, but certainly possessed an air of authority to it. _"Would you mind introducing me to your partners?"_

The young kunoichi looked up towards her accomplices, and realized that they had been glaring at her, perhaps questioning her motives and thinking she was about to make an escape. However the thing that grabbed her attention the most was Itachi Uchiha's sharingan twirling dangerously around his crimson eyes. "Oh! I'm just giving my feet a break," she muttered apologetically towards them. "Hoshigaki Kisame and Uchiha Itachi, this is Akina, one of my wolf summons and a dear friend." She flashed the two a genuine smile, hoping to ease the tension.

"Hmm, so she really can summon wolves." Kisame thought aloud. Itachi nodded and deactivating his sharingan, turned around to continue on their way. "I've never heard of such a summoning." Kisame remarked.

"_In order to be granted a summoning contract with the wolves, the shinobi must show the wolves that her intentions for gaining power are both noble, kind and selfless." _Kyra blushed and smiled lightly towards Kisame as her wolf partner praised her so highly, clearly answering Kisame's curiosity.

"We'll see how long that lasts." Kisame simply chuckled, turning away to catch up to Itachi. Kyra frowned at his dark words.

Kyra leaned back and thought about the two shinobi as Akina walked soundlessly behind the two who had persuaded her to join the Akatsuki. She knew Kisame had hailed from the same village as her, The Village Hidden in the Mist, or The Bloody Mist, as some knew it. She could tell that just by looking at his forehead protector. She also suspected that he was the one to kill Fuguki Suikazan, and take his place as one of the seven great swordsman, seeing as he wielded the Samehada.

He seemed to rely on using his blade and brute force in battle, giving the advantage to her as her ice style ninjutsu could easily freeze over many of his water style ninjutsu, and his slow and sluggish movements gave her an advantage because of her speed. Still, she knew it was foolish to underestimate such an opponent, and the blood thirsty look she could constantly see in his eyes was testament to that.

The other, Itachi Uchiha was a different story. He didn't seem to reveal a lot about himself, besides the fact that he wielded the sharingan. She knew of the atrocities he had committed however. His younger brother, Sasuke Uchiha had told her many times about it. While she trained with him under Orochimaru's watchful eye, they became close duelling partners, often trading conversation and eventually forming a mutual respect for one another. While her lust of gaining power was to accomplish a more pure goal, Sasuke's revenge scheme had really rubbed her the wrong way. She remembered telling him on more than one occasion that it was a shame to waste your life on such a destructive and consuming goal, only to be scoffed at by the arrogant Uchiha.

She placed a small cool hand on the left side of her neck, shuddering at what would have happened if she hadn't chose to leave Orochimaru's grasp when she did. She looked down, preferring to preoccupy her mind with other thoughts than relive her time with Orochimaru. Still, the elder Uchiha intrigued her. Sasuke's story didn't seem to add up to her, and she truly found it hard to believe that someone who had acted as such a friendly and kind brother could do something so horrible. She scrunched up her nose in concentration, something she often did when she was deep in thought. He certainly seemed cold to her, but what shinobi didn't when in battle? He must be strong, she thought. To be able to join the ranks of the infamous Akatsuki, and to accomplish the slaughtering of his own clan, he would have to be. The more she thought about it, the more questions she craved answers to. Itachi Uchiha was certainly a mysterious character, and she was determined to find out more about him.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the voice of the blue skinned shinobi. "Kyra, what village are you originally from?" He glanced back over his shoulder awaiting an answer. She noticed the raven haired shinobi had also gazed lazily in her direction curiously.

"Oh," she muttered in reply. She flipped her bangs more to the left to reveal the answer hiding beneath them. "The village hidden in the mist, like you Kisame." She smiled sheepishly toward the two shinobi.

"Strange, I've never heard of you until now," was his reply. He looked at her curiously.

"I prefer to keep a low profile," was the only information she was willing to give up about her past, and she smiled hesitantly towards him, hoping to satisfy his thirst for knowledge.

"Hmm," was the only reply she received, although it was the Uchiha who had given it to her. He gazed up towards the dark sky in thought. This young shinobi was truly mysterious to him, and it bugged him to know such little about her. He knew some of her battling techniques, but it appeared to him that she had really only been toying with Kisame's abilities and searching for answers during their engagement. The summoning of the wolf was as much proof as he needed to see to know that she was holding back on her true abilities in front of her then foes. If it weren't for his sharingan, he doubted he would have been able to locate her true self so fast. Although he knew little of her abilities, it was the kunoichi herself that perplexed him.

She was powerful, and skilled in many different areas. He knew that from the briefing their leader had given them. She was also intelligent, he could see that simply by gazing into her dark hazel eyes and the way she had battled earlier. It was her personality that truly confused him. She was a small girl, only standing about 5'4 and for someone so seemingly powerful, she was kind hearted and very respectful of himself and Kisame. The way she moved throughout battle and even while travelling was swift and graceful, very feminine, something he wasn't used to seeing. Her voice was soft and warm, and he had a hard time seeing such qualities in a powerful shinobi. She truly was a curious creature to him, and although he didn't want to admit it to himself, he was really eager to find out more about this kunoichi.

They travelled in silence for a few more hours until coming to a halt in front of the side of a mountain. Kyra hopped off the wolf who had been carrying her, and glanced towards Itachi for an answer as to why they had stopped. Itachi rapidly made a few hand signs, and pressed his hand softly against the stone of the cliff that stood in front of them. A barrier suddenly became visible and flickered out of existence at his touch, leaving a wide rocky entrance to a cave that was dimly lit. He turned toward Kyra and glanced at her. She understood his silent command and nodded towards Akina, before watching her disappear in a small poof. She followed closely behind the two into the damp, cold hideout.

The hidden cavern was eerie, to say the least. It was dimly lit by torches lining the walls, and the soft puttering of water dropping from the ceiling could be heard as it echoed throughout the cavern. Kyra assumed this was the Akatsuki hideout. They walked for nearly ten minutes into the depths of this place, their footsteps echoing throughout the cavern until they reached an enormous room which was brightly lit. There were many torches attached to the walls, which added to the light emitting from the huge bonfire in the centre of the room. Kyra marvelled at its appearance.

"Who the fuck is that?" Kyra looked up in surprise to see a man with swept back silver hair looking her over curiously with a smirk upon his lips. She suddenly felt self conscious as she studied his appearance. Like the other members, he wore the infamous Akatsuki black cloak, dawned with puffy crimson clouds. On his back however, she noticed a huge scythe like weapon, its three menacing blades were blood red.

Kyra Yuki shifted her weight in a nervous fashion and turned towards Itachi as he spoke. He glared at the comrade who had spoken so rudely to her and answered his question. "This girl is Kyra Yuki. She is the Akatsuki's newest addition," he paused and stared down the man. "I suggest you treat her with a little more respect." Itachi's words weren't exactly heart warming, but she did appreciate the small gesture.

The man suddenly leapt from his position and appeared only inches from the young kunoichi. "Kyra Yuki eh? I've never heard of her. She certainly is easy on the eyes though," the man mused, studying her features more closely.

Kyra took a step back instinctively. She crossed her arms, and glared at the man in front of her, her cheeks being graced with a redish tint. She appeared to be mad, but truthfully the comment had caught her off guard and she felt embarrassed to some degree.

"Hidan, stop acting like such a fool." The dark voice that echoed through the darkness sent a shiver through Kyra's spine. She turned to see a shinobi with strange red and teal eyes glaring at the two of them. He wore a mask around his face and his presence had a fierce dark aura surrounding it.

"Kakazu fuck off, I'm just trying to talk to the young lady." He leaned towards her again smiling at her creepily. She scoffed and turned away from him.

"I'll kill you if you don't stop Hidan," the menacing voice echoed throughout the room, and the appearance on the fellow shinobi's face was truly frightening to the natural eye.

Itachi surveyed the scene and found himself surprisingly irked by Hidan's crude comments. "That's enough you two." He spoke in a monotone voice which commanded the authority of the group. They turned towards him in unison.

Kyra reminded herself she was a shinobi, and suppressed her feelings of frustration until her facial expression regressed to it's pleasant, peaceful, and perceptive self. She glanced over to Kisame who had witnessed the scene to see his regular grimacing smirk across his face.

"Deidara and Sasori should nearly be complete their mission of capturing the one tailed beast, and we will all be needed soon." Itachi spoke, and noticed the slight flicker in Kyra's eyes as he spoke these words. Interesting. "I will take Kyra and get her properly suited up."

Kyra looked towards the Uchiha and nodded toward him solemnly. She followed him in silence for a few minutes as he lead her through a few winding passages. Deciding to break the silence, she innocently looked up to him. "Quite a colourful vocabulary Hidan has, isn't it?"

The Uchiha glanced down coldly towards the girl following him, locking eyes with her for a few seconds. For a moment, his dark onyx eyes wavered to reveal an emotion Kyra had not seen in him before. "Yes," he agreed looking back towards the direction he was walking.

For the fleeting moment he dropped his shinobi like defences, Kyra swore she saw an element of kindness in his eyes. Her nose scrunched up as she pondered the thought. Once again, her thoughts were interrupted as she came to a halt in front of a door beside the raven haired Uchiha.

"You'll find your gear inside this room. If you need anything, just let me know." He glanced down towards her and began to walk away, before stopping himself. "That ring you stole from Orochimaru," he glanced over his shoulder and their eyes locked again. "You'll also be required to wear that."

Kyra's eyes widened. How did he know about the ring she had stolen from her previous tutor months ago? Besides that thought, she made the connection in her mind. "I see, so Orochimaru was once part of this organization?"

Itachi's eyes softened as he admired her quick wit internally. He nodded before walking away.

Kyra walked into the dim room and gazed at it's contents. There was a bed and a small set of drawers beside it. Neatly folded onto her bed, was an Akatsuki cloak matching the others', as well as some other accessories.

She sat down on the bed and thought about the day's past events. It certainly had been a crappy birthday, and she frowned at the thought that she didn't get the sweets she was so looking forward to. She emptied the contents of her pockets onto the bed and looked at them. There were some candy wrappers, the scroll she was planning on returning to it's rightful owners, and a large hunk of unshapely sapphire. She curiously looked at the scroll, and debated reading it. She decided against it at the thought that there might be some kind of seal that would alert her clients that it had been breached. She sighed and fondled the large chunk of blue sapphire her late friend had given her, staring it at quietly.

She was about to begin changing when she heard a loud knock. She sighed to herself quietly before answering the door. Hidan stood before her. There was something about him, that slightly frightened Kyra. Nonetheless, she looked up at him with her usual calm look.

"Fight me," were the only words that came out of his mouth as he smirked. She looked at him slightly surprised.

He frowned and explained more. "Damn, I just mean sparring you know? I didn't mean to the death or any shit like that."

"Alright!" She replied in a cheery tone catching him off guard. He studied her small grin on her soft pale face. It seemed to be sincere. She quickly closed the door to her room again. It would certainly take her mind off things. She pocketed the items again, and began to prepare for the sparring match.

"Damn, she's pretty good looking but kinda fucking weird too," Hidan muttered as he walked away, contemplating the young kunoichi. He took a few steps and smirked in anticipation of their battle. Shortly after arriving back in the great room, Hidan sat down awaiting his opponent. She appeared before him in her regular attire quickly, awaiting the match as well. He grinned and jumped to his feet.

The other member's of Akatsuki noticed, but surely Hidan didn't. He wasn't the brightest member of rogue ninjas among them.

"You better not be some damn pushover," he mused looking at his opponent with excitement. He removed the red bladed scythe from his back and pointed it towards the kunoichi menacingly. She smirked before swiftly jumping into the air, and launching herself towards her opponent with speed unbelievable to the naked eye.

Itachi activated his sharingan and it twirled lazily to watch the two clash between each other. He knew from their previous encounter that Kyra was only testing her opponent with a mere water clone. However, it appeared in her regular attire, and Hidan must have known she was changing into the Akatsuki uniform. Kind of sloppy on her part, however she may have already figured out that Hidan isn't the brightest. He smirked at her wit. His thoughts were interrupted as a small character appeared to his left.

"Not bad eh?" Kyra looked up to Itachi smiling from beneath her hat, as she now donned the signature Akatsuki robe. He looked down and noticed the slate blue ring around her left pinkie finger, as well as her truly sincere smile.

Before he could reply, Kisame snickered. "You know, you're really quite small. You look kinda ridiculous in that Akatsuki uniform, not very intimidating at all." He chuckled and looked down at her.

She still wasn't used to his cold beady eyes.

She pouted for a moment before looking back up at him. "Haha, you know I bet you're right." She scratched the back of her neck awkwardly. At 5'4, she wasn't exactly fierce looking. "I bet I do look kinda pathetic."

Hidan continued to curse as he was unable to land a blow on his opponent, clearly becoming frustrated. With a quick hand sign Kyra dissolved her water clone. "Where the hell did she go?" Hidan growled. She smirked and stepped onto the field to confront her opponent. He gaped realizing his foolish error. "You little bitch, I can't believe you tricked me like that!" He pointed a finger at her in disbelief, before charging recklessly at her.

She dodged his attacks in a swift manor before leaping into the air behind him at a lightning speed. She pulled out several senbon from her weapons pouch attached to her thigh and gracefully threw them into her opponents back. She preferred senbon over more traditional tools because of their accuracy. She had trained in both medical ninjutsu, and the silent killing technique and knew the human body well. With a few well placed senbon into the enemy's spine, she could temporarily paralyse them, allowing her to avoid killing whenever possible. She smirked, confident she had finished her target.

She landed silently and gracefully on the ground and peered at her opponent now lying motionless. "Fuck, that hurt!" She stumbled in surprise at her enemy's action. He shouldn't be able to move, let alone speak. She knew her needles hadn't missed the mark.

Miraculously though, he stood up easily and pulled the needles from his spine effortlessly. "I'll get you back for that one," Hidan glowered.

Still shocked by his ability to even move, Kyra stood in her place stunned. Hidan suddenly rushed forward and she dodged his numerous attacks in a sloppy fashion. Hidan yelled in rage and began swinging his scythe randomly throughout the air, and through a stroke of luck, struck Kyra in the shoulder, drawing blood and sending her small frame flying across the room, skidding to a stop. Suddenly realizing what he had accomplished, Hidan started laughing maniacally.

Kyra struggled to get up, completely caught off guard by the attack. Her whole body stung as she could feel the blood seeping through the scrapes covering her left side. The pain throbbed, but she pushed it to the back of her mind, choosing to ignore it. Her sensei had always told her that pain was a mental thing, and she could chose to ignore it. As a shinobi, it was her duty.

Her hand fell to the her right thigh at the memory of her sensei where she drew her wakazashi from it's sheath. She glanced at the blade, ignoring Hidan's maniacal laughter. The wakazashi she held was essentially a small katana. She began to wield it when she was still too small to handle a katana. Instead of trading off for a larger weapon when she grew older, she continued to use the small blade. Essentially, it was a glorified knife and gave her the ability to move much more swiftly than if it were a full sized sword.

She glanced up at her opponent and realized, to her shock, that his appearance had rapidly changed while she had lost herself in thought. Hidan's skin had now turned black, and white stripes appeared across his face and hands, almost resembling a skeleton, she thought. She mentally slapped herself, before preparing for another strike. She watched as her opponent, now dripping in blood, used the red liquid to draw a symbol around himself. She narrowed her eyes and waited.

Still laughing maniacally to himself, he began to raise a pole. At the moment, it looked like he intended to throw it at her as he held it above his head. Kyra moved swiftly and began running towards Hidan, intending to strike again, but before she could reach him, an intense pain seared throughout her thigh, and she collapsed, skidding across the floor for the second time in minutes.

"How does it feel?" Hidan yelled at her with a crazed smile upon his face. "Lord Jashin will be pleased!"

The pain made Kyra's mind whir, and she was unable to comprehend the words that Hidan was now screaming at her. She rolled over on her back and tried to sit up and compose herself. She touched her thigh that burned with pain and looked at the wet red liquid that was now covering her right hand. She dizzily tried to understand what had happened. He certainly didn't hit her.

The euphoria poured through Hidan's body as he felt the pain that young Kyra was feeling. It was like a drug, more addicting than anything he had ever experienced. And he craved more. Laughing in pure pleasure, he raised the metal pole over his head again, intending to pierce her heart.

Itachi's eyes widened in surprise as he understood what Hidan intended to do. He quickly leapt to his feet and bounded towards the shinobi with the pole, quickly disarming him and knocking him from the symbol on the ground he stood within.

Kyra's mind whirred as the pain overwhelmed her. She didn't know what happened, and as she tried to figure it out she became dizzy. Her whole world felt like it was spinning black spots started to cloud her vision. She was losing consciousness. She shook her head, refusing to fall out of consciousness and quickly compiled the facts. Losing blood, two wounds, need to heal.

She forced all of her will power into focusing on the first wound in her thigh and raised her hands above it. She held her breathe in concentration as she channelled the medical chakra through her hand and onto her wound. She winced, and it stung, but after a few seconds the black spots disappeared from her vision, and she was beginning to think clearly again.

After a few more minutes of treatment, the majority of the wounds had been sealed and she was able to think clearly. She focused on the world around her. Kisame and Kakazu stared blankly at the scene around them, and a pang of fury raced through Kyra's mind. They had witnessed what had happened and not even considered helping her. Not that she really expected them to, and even though she was proven so many times that it was true, she still couldn't believe that there were people in this world that would watch someone suffer and not even entertain the thought of helping them.

She then glanced over to where Hidan had stood, to see Itachi glowering at the Jashinist. Hidan was on the ground not two feet away from him cursing him. His appearance had turned back to normal. Kyra sighed, thankful for what Itachi had done, and continued to treat the various minor cuts and scratches she had received from skidding across the floor. As the pain began to ease, her mind began to think clearer and she thought about what had happened to her.

Hidan had slashed her shoulder with a lucky hit and sent her skidding across the room. When she picked herself up she had drawn her wakazashi- Where was her wakazashi? She looked around the room quickly trying to hide her panic before she spotted it a few feet away on the ground. She quickly got to her feet and scampered towards it before picking it up sloppily, ignoring the pain that seared throughout her fresh wounds. She sat down to think again, but was abruptly cut off.

"It's time." Her eyes flashed open as she tried to identify the voice. It was far off, and heavily distorted. Her eyes glanced around the room searching for the voice. "Deidara and Sasori have completed their mission."

Within a moment, Itachi had appeared at her side. She looked up into his onyx eyes searching for an answer, still slightly disoriented from the blood loss. "Just close your eyes and relax." She trusted the husky voice and looked into his eyes, which conveyed a sincere look for a fleeting moment. She nodded and did what he said, and gasped as it felt like her soul had been torn from her body.

**Author's Note:**

**Once again, thank you all for reading! I do really appreciate it. Please please please review, your feedback is loved and cherished. This chapter was a lot of fun to write, and I really hoped you enjoyed it as well. **

**Until next time, Jacqueline.**


	3. Jinchuriki

Kyra immediately experienced a wave of nausea as she opened her eyes again. She blinked several times, trying to sort out the image she saw. She looked around an extremely large room to see several silhouettes outlined with a sharp rainbow like infusion of colours. She continued blinking, certain that her eyes had been betraying her. She continued to look around, straining her weak night vision to see where she was. She was standing on... a hand? There were five projections across from her standing on top of apparent fingers, all donning similar Akatsuki cloaks. She looked down to see she was standing on a giant stone finger as well. She continued to shake her head and try to make sense of the situation, but the only explanation she could come up with was that she really _had _lost too much blood, and had fell unconscious and was dreaming up the crazy scene.

"We're all here," a heavily distorted, deep, powerful voice sounded across the stone cavern, interrupting the silence. "I see our newest member is here as well." Kyra looked up towards the direction the voice was coming from, but could only see the faint outline of an Akatsuki cloak with strange spiralling eyes boring into hers.

She mentally cursed her poor night vision as she strained to see her surroundings. Her eyes adjusted slightly and to her right she could make out a strange stone statue. It's appearance was frightening, and to her it resembled some sort of demon with multiple eyes and a fierce expression. It looked like it had crept from the nightmares of a small child's imagination.

"This is Kyra Yuki," the voice stated flatly. Kyra's attention was pulled from the flurry of thoughts racing through her mind and she snapped back to reality at the mention of her name. That is, if you could even call this reality.

Kyra noticed nine pairs of eyes boring into her. The eyes belonged to character's she could not see, as their eyes were the only feature that really made their presence apparent besides their colourful outline. She did recognize a few, however. She recognized Itachi Uchiha's deep, crimson sharingan. She also recognized Kakazu's strangely coloured eyes, as well as Kisame's beady eyes next to her. She grimaced to herself as she could still imagine the bloodthirsty grin upon his face.

She met everyone's gaze, gathering information by just staring into the other members' eyes. Kyra shuddered. Most of the eyes that met her gaze were truly evil, bloodthirsty, and terrifying. Some seemed slightly sad however, and some seemed expressionless. She shifted her weight onto her other leg and glanced down at her feet, and was shocked to see that she was also in this strange form. She looked at her hands and placed them together, and was again surprised, to find out that she couldn't feel anything. "Wh-what is this?" Kyra asked aloud, truly bewildered. Her eyes displayed more shock as she found her voice to be distorted in a similar manner to the one who had spoken before.

Kyra looked up to the character, who as far as she could tell was apparently the leader. His strange spiralling eyes met hers, and she received her reply. "This, is a secret jutsu used to summon your soul to an exact location. However, your physical self is not here." Kyra had never heard of such a technique. "We're here to seal the chakra and soul of the One-Tailed Shukaku. We'll be extracting it from it's jinchuriki, the Kazekage."

If Kyra hadn't been shocked about what had happened to her already today, this was certainly enough to do it. She suddenly became very thankful that her Akatsuki robe covered up the majority of her face. If it was possible, she was sure that her jaw would've detached itself and fallen to the ground in surprise by now. Kisame, who was standing on the finger to Kyra's right snickered, catching her series of ridiculous reactions. She scowled in response, took a breathe, and composed herself to her normal shinobi like face.

The apparent leader watched Kyra's reaction carefully, without revealing emotion. He waited patiently until she met his powerful gaze before speaking again. "You may call me Pein, and I am the leader of the Akatsuki." Kyra's only response was a sheepish nod, accompanied by a small shy grin she was unaware if he could even see. Satisfied by her response, he turned to the rest of the organization and nodded. "Let's begin." He silently bounded onto another stone finger of the demonic statue, and made a simple hand sign. Kyra copied his movements with her own hands, still unsure of what she was expected to do. Pein seemed to trust that she would either know, or would be able to figure it out easily.

With the movement of his hands, a device snapped away from the stone demon's mouth, and it opened slowly. Kyra continued to look around and now saw the body of a young boy lying unconscious in front of the statue. She strained her eyes to see him better. He had red hair and dark eyes, and from the small rise and fall of his chest she could confirm that he was still alive. She turned toward the leader, Pein, as he now spoke. "It will take nearly three days." Once again, Kyra was surprised by these words, but was mentally and physically too exhausted to say anything or react in any way. She simply nodded, along with most other members of the group.

Kyra studied the other group members carefully, searching for a clue as to what she was expected to do. Almost in unison, they closed their eyes and made a simple hand sign used to help focus chakra. She wasn't a sensory ninja, but any shinobi could easily feel the presence of their steady chakra flow drifting towards the ominous statue. She closed her eyes and focused, doing the same as the others.

Within a few moments, there was a strange sound and she looked down to see that along with many other members, a glowing green symbol had appeared at the base of the finger she stood on. She immediately recognized that it was the same one on her ring she had stolen from Orochimaru. This must be the reason why she needed to be wearing it, she thought.

The stone demon's mouth began to glow as the chakra it was being given became visible. The leader spoke again after making a series of complex hand signs. "Sealing jutsu, nine phantom dragons!" Kyra marvelled as the glowing light in it's mouth, slowly morphed into several dragons made of chakra and engulfed the young Kazekage lying motionlessly on the cold stone floor. A pang of guilt wavered over her, and she sincerely hoped that this wouldn't cause him pain, however she knew in her heart she was wrong. She looked at the young boy being tortured by the jutsu longingly, suddenly wishing she didn't have to go through with this.

There was a sudden pull, not a physical one, but one that seemed to be wanting more chakra. She closed her eyes and began to concentrate, pushing all other thoughts aside in order to keep her chakra flow steady. It was a difficult task, considering she was extremely tired from the day's events. Two fights, a lot of travelling, and the chakra she had used in those fights had made her suddenly aware of how exhausted she truly was. She sighed in concentration, quietly enough so that only she could hear.

After only a short hour, she had found it much easier to control her chakra flow, and was happy with herself in her progress. She opened her eyes again and began to process what had been happening. Until now, she was nearly convinced that this had to be some bad dream or genjutsu, but it was becoming apparent that that was not the case. She was still mentally exhausted, and found herself drifting into thought thinking pleasantly about the next chance she would get to sleep.

The thought was interrupted when she remembered the fact that Pein had mentioned this jutsu would take nearly three days. Her physical self was still injured, and as she recalled the fact she could feel the pain welling up in the places her wounds would be. It was true then, that she could still be aware of her physical form. This soul summoning jutsu was truly a miracle to her. She looked around the room now, and once again realized that all eyes were still on her. Kyra felt her shoulders sag when she realized this, and felt slightly self conscious. They were just curious, she guessed, but she couldn't help but feel awkward.

She looked down, and a horrified look crept across her face. The boy that had been engulfed by the chakra dragons earlier, was now levitating in mid air, a strange demonic chakra flowing through his mouth and into the stone beast that was sealing it. She could hear a soft groaning sound as well, and immediately felt extremely guilty for what she was taking part in. She frowned and looked down at her feet.

The Akatsuki member known only as Deidara watched the newest member, Kyra Yuki curiously. Towards the beginning of the sealing jutsu, she appeared to be having trouble with her chakra control but she learned and seemed to improve very quickly. Impressive. Even he had trouble controlling chakra at that level when he helped seal the first jinchuriki the Akatsuki had captured. Kyra had spoken once earlier, and though her voice was distorted like the rest of theirs, he was surprised at how soft and feminine it was. She was short, in his opinion for a kunoichi but he was interested in getting to know her better. He found it frustrating that he couldn't see her better, he was very curious as to what she looked like.

"Hey," Kyra snapped up and looked at him, and he could tell just by her visible eyes that something was troubling her. He wasn't expecting to see her like that, and had trouble finding words. "I'm Deidara, un."

"Oh, I'm Kyra," She snapped out of her pained look and he could see from her eyes that she was probably smiling at him. He smirked to himself. Even though the reply was distorted and muffled, he decided he liked the velvety tone of her quiet voice.

"Well it's nice to meet you Kyra," Deidara replied. He suddenly felt slightly awkward and didn't know why, and decided to end the conversation at that. She simply nodded sheepishly at the kind gesture.

Kyra was extremely grateful that somebody had finally decided to speak to her. She understood that the group wasn't that talkative, which was fine with her. But to have their eyes constantly glaring at her, she couldn't feel more out of place if she had a second head and furry tail.

To Kyra's relief, throughout the next few hours the tension in the room seemed to dissipate. One by one the other Akatsuki members either followed Deidara's example and decided to introduce themselves, or preoccupied themselves with other thoughts, taking their cold eyes off of Kyra. Kyra however, grew more and more upset with herself. The jinchuriki who had been the burden of this jutsu continued to groan in agony, and she felt the guilt sit upon her shoulders restlessly.

She had been able to become more aware of her physical self, and her body protested against the constant draining of her chakra, and pleaded for sleep. She had truly never been this exhausted in her entire life.

During the next few days, small conversation had passed between the members of the Akatsuki and from what Kyra could tell, this group wasn't particularly fond of each other. She was slightly amused by Deidara and the one know as Sasori's bickering between one another. It wasn't exactly hostile, they were just small debates about the meaning of art, and what art is to one another. The time's they weren't fighting, Kyra could sometimes see Deidara staring down Itachi, and from what she could see of Itachi's eyes, he was always ever so slightly smirking at Deidara's attempts to intimidate him. Hidan's colourful vocabulary was heard several times, which seemed to really annoy his partner Kakazu. Kisame commented a few times on these exchanges, but otherwise remained silent. Itachi managed to keep to himself and she often found herself staring into Itachi's powerful sharingan gaze. For reasons she didn't know, it was truly mesmerizing to her.

Several times throughout these few days, however, Kyra found she was doubting herself. The want to sleep had been at the top of her priorities and thoughts, she was extremely exhausted. But the other thing that tormented her mind was the jinchuriki. For the last three days he had been groaning, and was evidently in a lot of pain. She found herself feeling very guilty about doing this, and on a number of occasions found herself battling between the idea of staying or leaving the Akatsuki. She didn't know the boy personally, but he looked slightly younger than herself. She had remembered hearing the news of the sand village's new sixteen year old Kazekage travel across the land, and from what she could tell, he was powerful but pure hearted. The more time she spent looking at his agonizing face, the more anguish and guilt she felt. She wished she could be anywhere else but participating in this ceremony.

She may have considered stopping it, if it weren't for the fact that she just wouldn't have a chance. She wasn't aware of what she could do during this soul summoning jutsu, but it made sense that she couldn't harm anyone there. Then there was also the fact that it was for certain that the members of Akatsuki were truly powerful. She was strong too, but the thought that two members was enough to infiltrate and kidnap the sand village's Kazekage was unreal to her.

A short time later, Kisame spoke up. "It's been nearly three days," he said. Although he tried to hide it, everyone could sense the eagerness in his voice. Kyra was relieved, as she had found it impossible to keep track of time in the dark cavern.

"Are the leaf ninja still pursuing?" Pein asked, his question clearly directed at the Akatsuki member with the oddly shaped body. From what Kyra had gathered, he was known as Zetsu, and seemed to be capable of spying on the leaf villages movement. She wondered if Zetsu had ever spied on her. It seemed likely, considering that they were well informed of her abilities before they made her join the organization.

"Yes, but they won't be here in time." Was his simple reply. Kyra's heart sank at the news, and she looked down longingly at the suffering boy. She noticed that the red chakra being drained from his body had thinned considerably, which probably meant that he had almost been completely drained of the tailed beast inside of him.

"I see," was Pein's only reply to Zetsu's information.

Kyra looked up into the leader's eyes but couldn't see any emotion come across his face. She gathered up the courage to speak to him, and with her most respectful tone posed a question. "Pein," she waited until she had eye contact. Her voice was more shy than she intended it to be. "What happens to the jinchuriki after it's tailed beast is sealed?"

Pein searched her eyes for her motives in asking, but could only find a genuine concern for the boy. "In this case, the jinchuriki will die." He watched her curiously as to how she would react. Her eyes widened in surprise, then became surprisingly furious.

Kyra was angered by the news. She was disgusted that the Akatsuki would do this to somebody only to acquire his power, he was completely innocent in her eyes. More than anything though, she was disgusted in herself. She was extremely angry by the fact that she had participated in this, and she felt extremely stupid for not thinking that his death was a possibility sooner. She stared furiously as she watched the last of the red chakra wisp away from his still body. The blue chakra surrounding him dissipated and his still body fell to the cold ground in a _thud. _She looked up to see a pupil appear in one of the statue's eyes.

"Good work everyone, you're dismissed." Pein's distorted voice echoed across the cavern.

Still enraged, Kyra closed her eyes and felt a familiar motion as her soul returned to her physical self. She opened her eyes and felt a sense of nausea sweep over her, smiliar to the one she had felt before. That would take some getting used to. She looked to her left to see Itachi opening his eyes, and she watched as he deactivated his sharingan. She made no attempt to hide her disgust in what had happened, and her eyes were furious as she looked around the well lit, familiar cavern she had fought Hidan in.

She got to her feet, and groaned as surprising pain overwhelmed her. The scabbing from the cuts and scrapes had grown over awkwardly from the weird position she had been sitting in for the last three days, and when she moved suddenly, the scabs cracked open leaving fresh blood streaming out. She pushed the pain to the back of her mind and began walking quickly out of the room towards the exit of the cave. She passed Kisame, Hidan, and Kakazu and didn't bother to even glance at them. All she wanted to do was get out and be alone. Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard Kisame's voice.

"Where do you think you're going?" Kyra had heard enough of his cocky voice. She stopped and glanced back at him and her once delicate features on her face became hard and cold.

"Don't follow me." Was the only thing she said to him coldly. She turned to continue walking away but was interrupted once again.

"You can't just leave like this." His voice was still cocky, and it only added fuel to the fire burning in Kyra. She glanced back once again, her face was colder than before.

"If you try to stop me, I will grab you and freeze every ounce of blood that flows through your body, and I can assure you, it's an extremely painful way to die." Her words dripped poison, and they hung in the air as she turned and stalked off.

Hidan gaped at her extreme mood change, and Kisame began to reconsider his comment he made earlier that she couldn't possibly look intimidating in the Akatsuki uniform. Itachi simply watched curiously as she stormed out. He understood why she was so mad, and although it was reasonable as to why she was, he couldn't help but to think it was cute. An awkward look came across his face as he thought this, and he shoved the thought to the back of his mind, refusing to dwell on it.

Kyra stormed out of the cave and was disappointed to see that it was again night time. Nonetheless, she was thankful for the bright moon light of a full moon and dashed off into the forest as fast as she could. Although the pain seared through her recent wounds, she had missed running. She ran for several minutes at full speed, thoughts whirring through her mind about what she had done.

Eventually she came across a clearing in the forest and collapsed to her knees. She pounded the ground in anger, still having trouble believing what she had just done. At the same time, she felt cheated for being tricked into something like that, but most of all she dwelled on the fact that she had foolishly come with the Akatsuki. She was mad at herself that her thirst for power had overwhelmed her thoughts, and that upon making the decision to join this organization, she had put the feeling that their motives were evil to the back of her mind.

She eventually stopped punching the ground and held her knees close to her face as she sat alone under the moonlight. The forest made no sound, and she suddenly felt extremely lonely. She touched her hand lightly to her wounded thigh and felt the blood spilling from the newly reopened wound. She sighed and laid against the cold earth, not wanting to bother with her wound at the moment. She looked up at the stars. This was a nightmare, she thought.

It didn't take long for Kyra to come to the decision that she would leave the Akatsuki. She wouldn't be a part of something like that anymore. She stood up with a sigh, and began unbuttoning her black and crimson clouded robe. She was about to pull it off her shoulders when a husky voice interrupted her.

"Kisame was right, you can't just leave the Akatsuki." She looked up and stumbled back in surprise as Itachi now stood a mere three feet in front of her. She cursed under her breathe at the fact that he had once again blind sided her. She took a step back and pulled out a series of senbon needles from her weapon's pouch with blinding speed.

"And why is that?" Once again, her normally kind words had become cold and heartless. The man in front of Kyra only looked down at her with confidence in his eyes.

"The Akatsuki couldn't just let you leave," Itachi paused looking for a reaction. She only continued to stare coldly at him. "You have valuable information about our organization. Not to mention, we need your particular set of skills." Kyra simply scoffed and began to walk past him. "I'm afraid I can't let you leave." Itachi's voice faltered for a moment and to Kyra he almost sounded empathetic.

She pushed the thought aside and refused to look back. She gathered strength in her knees to push herself into another dash, but instead, her legs faltered and she collapsed. It was only then as she lied foolishly on the ground that she remembered she hadn't slept for over three days, and the exhaustion and fatigue her anger had momentarily fought off all rushed in at once and consumed her body. Her limbs felt heavy and she wondered if she would even have the strength to pick herself up off the ground.

She looked up into sharingan eyes, which had once again appeared in front of her. Kyra scowled bitterly at her situation. Despite what she wanted to think, Itachi was right. She would not be leaving the Akatsuki, whether she wanted to or not, she was staying. For tonight, anyways.

**Author's note:**

**Wow! Another long chapter. It is wayyy too late to be writing, but I promised my sister I would have this chapter out tonight. Anyways, thanks to EVERYONE who reviewed! I really appreciate your feedback! Hope everyone's enjoying the story so far. Oh yeah, I also tweeked a few things in chapter one, but if you don't feel like rereading, no worries, I didn't change anything drastic, just added a touch.**

**Until next time, Jacqueline.**


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